Coin crooks on tape cashing in plunder

Posted: Saturday, July 18, 2009

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Two thieves stole $800 of rare and collectible coins from a Noketchee Drive home Thursday afternoon, but were caught on camera not long after loading the coins into a change machine at a nearby grocery store, according to an Athens-Clarke police report.

The victim, a 40-year-old woman, left the front door unlocked and the coins in a safe hidden in a closet. She found three of the missing coins in the Coinstar machine at the Piggly Wiggly on North Avenue, according to the report.

The victim's daughter identified two possible suspects from the store's surveillance tape. The two suspects cashed in the coins at 4:10 and presented the time-stamped voucher to Piggly Wiggly's service desk, according to the report.